Matt Campbell Can Back Rocco Becht, but That Doesn't Mean He Should Play

There's no way Penn State head coach Matt Campbell can look at the roster he has and suggest other guys shouldn't be playing. 

Obviously, he sees much more than fans do at practice every day, but the reality is that a guy like Rocco Becht just hasn't been playing at the level anyone has hoped for, and that's a problem. Instead of giving anyone else a chance, Campbell keeps focusing on the guy who helped him a lot at Iowa State. 

The reality, however, is that Iowa State and Penn State are two completely different programs. Penn State is widely regarded as one of the top programs in college football history, while the Big 12 and Iowa State don't offer a similar comparison. That's not to say that Becht wasn't good at Iowa State, but again, this is a completely different game.

Becht hasn't been the worst quarterback in the country, but you could argue he's been the worst Penn State quarterback we've seen in the past decade or so. He's thrown for 1,664 yards, 12 touchdowns, and five interceptions. 

None of those numbers are brutal, but the play goes way beyond the numbers. This isn't a guy who has done anything against halfway decent teams this year, struggling mightily against USC, Northwestern, Wisconsin, and Michigan. He has just three touchdowns in those games while throwing five interceptions.

It seems like an easy decision to make a quarterback change, but that doesn't sound like it's going to happen anytime soon, at least according to Campbell's recent comments.

"[With] Rocco, like a lot of our players to be honest with you, I think we tried to really do a deep dive self-evaluation of where are they," Campbell said, per Mark Wogenrich. "I think that all can't be just what's going wrong. What also went right?

"I think we were able to put a lot of that collectively together. Here's where there are some really great moments. Here is where we're playing at our best. Here is where we're not and why. I think even Rocco would tell you fundamentally there's things where it got chaotic at times, whether a decision-making process, inaccuracy process, it is fundamental, it's coachable, able to get corrected."

Campbell has backed Becht the entire year, and I don't necessarily have a problem with that. It would be more of an issue if the head coach came out and said he has no trust in his quarterback. 

However, publicly supporting him and continuing to play him are two different things. Campbell could easily say he has all the trust in the world in Becht, but he wants to go in a different direction to build for next year. 

For whatever reason, that hasn't been the case, and Penn State fans are growing very frustrated with it.